Aanandam is a 2016 Indian Malayalam film written and directed by Ganesh Raj in his directorial debut. Vineeth Sreenivasan produces the film under the banner of Habit Of Life with Vinod Shornur under Cast N Crew. The film features Vishak Nair, Anu Antony, Thomas Mathew, Arun Kurian, Siddhi Mahajankatti, Roshan Mathew, and Anarkali Marikar in the lead roles. Cinematography is handled by Anend C. Chandran and music by Sachin Warrier. Abhinav Sunder Nayak has done the editing and LJ Films distributed the film. Now let's go to the review. 'Aanandam' is such a beautiful, well written aesthetic cinema tale which tells us the story of a bunch of Engineering students and their adventures. The film mostly focuses on the IV(Industrial Visit) done by the students and the little events during the tour. Most of main cast are newbies, even though they have managed to act very effectively and quite appreciable for their signature roles. Vineeth Sreenivasan, the producer, is also acclaimed for introducing new faces to the Malayalam Film Industry like Nivin Pauly, Aju Varghese etc. Now he lets his long-time assistant director Ganesh Raj to the mainstream, while he takes the chair of a producer. The cinematographer Anend C. Chandran has made yet an other milestone in his career using the extraordinary frames of Aanandam. Anend is widely noted for his skills in the blockbuster film Premam(2015). Sachin Warrier, an other talent introduced by Vineeth as a singer through his own film, becomes the music director of Aanandam, who creates a refreshing and elegant tune and music for the mood of the film. Overall, most of technicians behind the curtain have done decent jobs to mold the film 'Aanandam'. Though he is a new face in 'director's chair', Ganesh Raj has marked his own signature to the film by uniting each every threads together. "Aanandam" in Malayalam language means 'Euphoria' and the director and his crew has done a good and decent job to bring it out from the viewers. It's true that this review cannot bring any excitement that I've experienced throughout the film. You can only feel the 'aanandam' while watching this beautiful picture.
16 Reviews
Feel-Good Movie Of The Year 2016. ♦ Grade C+
nairtejas7 November 2016
Every year, Malayalam cinema throws Frisbees at you. Frisbees that celebrate life and all things associated, and encourage you to live life to the fullest and with empathy and joy. In 2015, we had Oru Vadakkan Selfie, Premam, Chirakodinja Kinavukal, and Charlie to name a few. This year, we have "Aanandam".
A group of sophomore year college students are planning an industrial visit as part of their Engineering course curriculum. Varun (Arun Kurian) is the most mature person of the lot, and is thus, assigned the task to manage the whole 4-day trip. He is part of a smaller group of friends (the stars of the film) which consists of Gautham (Roshan Mathew), a metal band front-man and headbanger who wears everything black and is the cynosure of female attention; his girlfriend of few months, Devika (Annu Antony), who fell in love with Gautham mostly due to his interests in Metallica and Gothic stuff; Kuppi (Vishak Nair), the singleton who considers all situations comically; Darshana (Anarkali Marikar), a hardcore creative and a recluse, Dia (Siddhi Mahajankatti), the rich girl and the female contemporary of Gautham; and lastly, Akshay (Thomas Mathew), the decent-looking guy who is in love with Dia. The story essentially follows the lives of these seven characters as they set out for their IV with their classmates to Hampi and Goa.
Why the film is feel-good is evident from the first frame itself. Produced by Vineeth Sreenivasan's home production, Habit of Life, it uses a light-hearted narrative to usher the audience into the lives of these characters as they begin an important phase of their young lives. Even though the humor looks (and is) forced at start, it slowly begins to gel in to the narrative. It cannot be called slapstick, per se, but Nair should be blamed if it does feel like the partially contrived story is swerving into that territory. Multiple love songs with short intervals in both halves also points to the fact that the story, if at all, is woven around the characters' feelings and experience and idiosyncrasies, which is picturised in few 5- minute montages. One will definitely feel the urge to visit the beautiful place Hampi after experiencing it through Anend Chandran's camera. And if you are a person who had a similar gang of buddies while in college, it will make things even better as a trek down memory lane is guaranteed.
The cast performance is mostly decent and convincing with the only exceptions being Kurian and Antony, who will need some acting lessons if they are to climb the ladder. We have seen Roshan Mathew before, and he does it right here, too, along with promising newcomers, Nair and Thomas Mathew. The supporting cast is also fine, with Rony and Vinitha Koshy ante-ing up the delight element. The cast is one big family on-screen who evince their cool mannerisms in the right way, ultimately entertaining you with their dialogues, delivery, and air.
All in all, it's a delightful ride that needs to (and can) be experienced by both the young and the young at heart. The lack of a proper story should not come in the way as the film makes it up with short fables about life and how one can live it. Additionally, there is a lot of cliché stitched into the characters with the narrative hitting monotony at parts, but that shouldn't affect the experience either because feel-goodness comes with a certain cost. The cost of not being novel. A pleasing cameo towards the end acts as a cherry on the top of this cake that is inarguably one of the top 15 cinematic preparations of the year.
BOTTOM LINE: Ganesh Raj's "Aanandam" is a feel-good movie with the right doses of comedy and romance, which will lift you up for one full day. What you do after totally depends on you and how you look at life, but the film definitely has few tips. Book a low-cost weekend ticket (use the Paytm offer if you are in Mumbai) and enjoy this with your friends and family.
Can be watched with a typical Indian family? YES
A group of sophomore year college students are planning an industrial visit as part of their Engineering course curriculum. Varun (Arun Kurian) is the most mature person of the lot, and is thus, assigned the task to manage the whole 4-day trip. He is part of a smaller group of friends (the stars of the film) which consists of Gautham (Roshan Mathew), a metal band front-man and headbanger who wears everything black and is the cynosure of female attention; his girlfriend of few months, Devika (Annu Antony), who fell in love with Gautham mostly due to his interests in Metallica and Gothic stuff; Kuppi (Vishak Nair), the singleton who considers all situations comically; Darshana (Anarkali Marikar), a hardcore creative and a recluse, Dia (Siddhi Mahajankatti), the rich girl and the female contemporary of Gautham; and lastly, Akshay (Thomas Mathew), the decent-looking guy who is in love with Dia. The story essentially follows the lives of these seven characters as they set out for their IV with their classmates to Hampi and Goa.
Why the film is feel-good is evident from the first frame itself. Produced by Vineeth Sreenivasan's home production, Habit of Life, it uses a light-hearted narrative to usher the audience into the lives of these characters as they begin an important phase of their young lives. Even though the humor looks (and is) forced at start, it slowly begins to gel in to the narrative. It cannot be called slapstick, per se, but Nair should be blamed if it does feel like the partially contrived story is swerving into that territory. Multiple love songs with short intervals in both halves also points to the fact that the story, if at all, is woven around the characters' feelings and experience and idiosyncrasies, which is picturised in few 5- minute montages. One will definitely feel the urge to visit the beautiful place Hampi after experiencing it through Anend Chandran's camera. And if you are a person who had a similar gang of buddies while in college, it will make things even better as a trek down memory lane is guaranteed.
The cast performance is mostly decent and convincing with the only exceptions being Kurian and Antony, who will need some acting lessons if they are to climb the ladder. We have seen Roshan Mathew before, and he does it right here, too, along with promising newcomers, Nair and Thomas Mathew. The supporting cast is also fine, with Rony and Vinitha Koshy ante-ing up the delight element. The cast is one big family on-screen who evince their cool mannerisms in the right way, ultimately entertaining you with their dialogues, delivery, and air.
All in all, it's a delightful ride that needs to (and can) be experienced by both the young and the young at heart. The lack of a proper story should not come in the way as the film makes it up with short fables about life and how one can live it. Additionally, there is a lot of cliché stitched into the characters with the narrative hitting monotony at parts, but that shouldn't affect the experience either because feel-goodness comes with a certain cost. The cost of not being novel. A pleasing cameo towards the end acts as a cherry on the top of this cake that is inarguably one of the top 15 cinematic preparations of the year.
BOTTOM LINE: Ganesh Raj's "Aanandam" is a feel-good movie with the right doses of comedy and romance, which will lift you up for one full day. What you do after totally depends on you and how you look at life, but the film definitely has few tips. Book a low-cost weekend ticket (use the Paytm offer if you are in Mumbai) and enjoy this with your friends and family.
Can be watched with a typical Indian family? YES
A Feel Good Movie.
harishmadireddi5 August 2020
A Very Well presented feel good movie, each character had their arc by the end of the movie. This movie is not about the travelling but it provides many travle spots to visit. Too much of positivity around the characters of the movie, it runs smoothly and you will have pleasant smile on your face during few scenes. Engineering students will get connected for sure. Direction and screenplay was very good. Cinematography was very nice. Acting was best to their roles by everyone but surprised by the transformation of roshan mathew in just two years from aanandham to koode, he changed a lot both performance and physic wise. The ending was very good and heart touching where the girl who doesnt speak to any one in the film, speaks to us throughout the movie.
Euphoric movie
YadhuDeHosure19 February 2017
I can't believe the movie was over so soon, I wanted this movie to last forever, it's that kind of movie. This movie has a perfect mixture of everything needed to show how a college student's life can be."Anandam" is a Feel- good teen movie, but I'm not sure adults would appreciate it as much.
This movie could have toned down the use of Alcohol and other stuff, it was the only negative thing I felt. I'm sure for college students, it will be a visual treat. The songs were epic, and the characters you can relate to , you will be at least one of the 9 lead characters shown in the movie.
This movie could have toned down the use of Alcohol and other stuff, it was the only negative thing I felt. I'm sure for college students, it will be a visual treat. The songs were epic, and the characters you can relate to , you will be at least one of the 9 lead characters shown in the movie.
GREAT...........
deepesheaswer4 June 2019
Its something which need to be experienced i dont have words to explain
i went to watch movie without any expectations and just to pass time
after the 1st 10-15 min i only realised that im in theaters when 1st half ended same scenario repeated in the second half
acting is good ,music is epic and director has provided us a real feast
Nostalgia at its best!!
tomjoseph-795227 November 2016
Warning: Spoilers
Aanadam is a trip down to memory lane which brings back college days in a lovable way. I can't write what I felt when I watched it. You need to feel Aanandam. Go and watch. Must see. #Iniaanandame will be the hashtag you will be writing after watching it. The characters are interesting and the story is simple but mesmerizing . There are some funny cameos by Nivin Pauly and Aju Varghese. And a predictable cameo by Ranji Panicker as a perfect dad which we have seen in the past.
Finally the whole new gen fresh faces were pretty good. Also Rony David as the serious (but funny) teacher was cool. Anyway you will thoroughly enjoy Aanandam.. #Iniaanandame... :)
Finally the whole new gen fresh faces were pretty good. Also Rony David as the serious (but funny) teacher was cool. Anyway you will thoroughly enjoy Aanandam.. #Iniaanandame... :)
Happiness Throughout!!
geevashibu14 February 2017
Warning: Spoilers
If you are searching for a movie that will make you happy,then this one is the best. The movie starring many new faces have been a awesome experience to watch.Directed by Ganesh Raj and Produced by Vineeth Sreenivasan, the movie has set up a soothing experience of college life of youngsters who are set to embark an industrial visit that changes their perspective of life.The movie talks about the life,love,friendship,adventure,etc.The drama unfolds nicely and happiness fills everywhere throughout .The direction is remarkable as well as the cinematography.The music and background score has been quite appealing and enjoyable.Overall this movie is one of the best Malayalam movies of 2016.
Surprisingly boring
varuny10 December 2016
What can I say about this movie which is supposed to be all about youthful exuberance.. I am very disappointed to say, but its a cliché fest.. Yes camera , cinematography,actors r all beautiful,but the collective is just not up to the mark... Yes they try hard to take us back to the nostalgia of good old college days, but the effort seems so forced..I don't think this movie appeal to anyone other than hopeless romantic s.. They have roped in nivin Pauli as well for some feel good monologue s .. yes the screen is filled with colours n laughter, but somehow the soul is missing... They should have made the plot more interesting, other than totally depending on the visuals n cliché dialogues..Its like taking a short- cut,
Must watch if you want feel good.
saiganeshneela18 May 2021
This film has my heart .It has several moments which made me feel immensely happy deep from my heart .I became so immersed in this movie .This movie has a charm which is very hard to create but this movie does it very easily .Thank you Ganesh Raj for making this movie .
FABULOUS.....
goginasriram20 August 2021
Grt direction,gud acting,fabulous screenplay...this movie literally has everything....throughout the movie we travel with those charector..
and i dont why tgis mve has rating below 8..ya i agree this movie has some flaws but remaining everything is grt
if u want watch this watch it with ur frnds.
Best feel good movie
jvmugeshkumar21 February 2020
One liner about movie
akshaibritto22 May 2021
Simply Osm!!!!😘
Not like other college or frienship related movies bcoz the story is believable and all the characters are writen well
Casting is superb
Not a one time watchable its multi time watchable movie
I loved it and gonna watch it again.
wrost movie of all time....why 7.6 for this crappy movie,, i don't know...this movie look like a home video..
vimalviswanath-132804 February 2017
Okay before I start, please respect my opinion as its just an opinion and nothing else. This isn't a rant, It's just what I felt about this movie and I am not offending anyone.
Okay Aanandam is a typical movie for the youngsters of this generation, Its pretty much about how you should enjoy your college life and how fun trips can be with your friends and peers.It takes you back to all the school/college/office trips you have been on.
So, this film is somewhat entertaining,funny, scenes are shot well,locations are good and songs are also not bad. Good movie to watch with family and friends but It isn't a breathtaking or ''This movie changed my life'' kind of movie.
Coming to the characters, Kuppi is by far my favorite. Vishak Nair did a remarkable job playing him. Kuppi is pretty much that guy in every school/college. The funny one. The silly one. The one not chasing after a girl. The caring one who just wants to have a blast with his friends. Trust me, no one can hate kuppi. Hats off to Ganesh Raj for creating that character and to Vishak Nair for making him come to life.
Gautham, played by Roshan Matthew is apparently the punk, the cool dude with the band. but that's not who he truly is.I liked this character as well. because we have all gone through that search for identity phase, when you find out who you are and who you are not. It's something we can all relate to.
Devika, played by Annu Antony is Gautham's girlfriend and Dia's and Darshana's friend and that seemed to be pretty much her only role in the movie but I thought she was very cute.
Varun, played by Arun Kurian is the serious type. He's that one guy in every group who is responsible and very serious and should loosen up a bit.
I think you should just watch the film to know about Darshana ;) Akshay, played by Thomas Matthew is that guy who is head over heels for the girl. He is pretty much like Nivin Pauly's character "Vinod" from the 2012 film "Thattathin Marayathu" Now, Dia. I'm sorry to say but she was my least favorite character maybe its because I feel like Siddhi Mahajankatti did not do a very good job of playing her. I felt like she was definitely overacting in some scenes and trying way too hard to be cute but yeah her character is a paavam. But I feel Siddhi should improve on her acting but yeah this is just her first movie she has a long way to go. One thing I don't get was that Dia tells Akshay that she is not interested in having a boyfriend and only wants to be friends but completely leads him on through out the film. I'm sorry, but I feel like if a girl just wants to be friends with a boy she should keep a limit and not send mixed signals and confuse the boy. Now you will only understand what I'm talking about after watching the movie.
Okay Aanandam is a typical movie for the youngsters of this generation, Its pretty much about how you should enjoy your college life and how fun trips can be with your friends and peers.It takes you back to all the school/college/office trips you have been on.
So, this film is somewhat entertaining,funny, scenes are shot well,locations are good and songs are also not bad. Good movie to watch with family and friends but It isn't a breathtaking or ''This movie changed my life'' kind of movie.
Coming to the characters, Kuppi is by far my favorite. Vishak Nair did a remarkable job playing him. Kuppi is pretty much that guy in every school/college. The funny one. The silly one. The one not chasing after a girl. The caring one who just wants to have a blast with his friends. Trust me, no one can hate kuppi. Hats off to Ganesh Raj for creating that character and to Vishak Nair for making him come to life.
Gautham, played by Roshan Matthew is apparently the punk, the cool dude with the band. but that's not who he truly is.I liked this character as well. because we have all gone through that search for identity phase, when you find out who you are and who you are not. It's something we can all relate to.
Devika, played by Annu Antony is Gautham's girlfriend and Dia's and Darshana's friend and that seemed to be pretty much her only role in the movie but I thought she was very cute.
Varun, played by Arun Kurian is the serious type. He's that one guy in every group who is responsible and very serious and should loosen up a bit.
I think you should just watch the film to know about Darshana ;) Akshay, played by Thomas Matthew is that guy who is head over heels for the girl. He is pretty much like Nivin Pauly's character "Vinod" from the 2012 film "Thattathin Marayathu" Now, Dia. I'm sorry to say but she was my least favorite character maybe its because I feel like Siddhi Mahajankatti did not do a very good job of playing her. I felt like she was definitely overacting in some scenes and trying way too hard to be cute but yeah her character is a paavam. But I feel Siddhi should improve on her acting but yeah this is just her first movie she has a long way to go. One thing I don't get was that Dia tells Akshay that she is not interested in having a boyfriend and only wants to be friends but completely leads him on through out the film. I'm sorry, but I feel like if a girl just wants to be friends with a boy she should keep a limit and not send mixed signals and confuse the boy. Now you will only understand what I'm talking about after watching the movie.
Aanandam
dhanavishvaps14 February 2021
CRAP!! can't even call it as a college movie
vkkiy3 September 2017
IV trip turned Honeymoon trip. No reality at all. I wonder how this movie got 7+ rating..!! Almost had a headache watching some overacting. Don't compare this to other college movies. No particular story line, just some love scenes. Everything in this movie was a complete fairy tale.
It's just a one time watch.
tommyjoe-6104630 January 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Okay before I start, please respect my opinion as its just an opinion and nothing else. This isn't a rant, It's just what I felt about this movie and I am not offending anyone.
Okay Aanandam is a typical movie for the youngsters of this generation, Its pretty much about how you should enjoy your college life and how fun trips can be with your friends and peers.It takes you back to all the school/college/office trips you have been on.
So, this film is somewhat entertaining,funny, scenes are shot well,locations are good and songs are also not bad. Good movie to watch with family and friends but It isn't a breathtaking or ''This movie changed my life'' kind of movie.
Coming to the characters, Kuppi is by far my favorite. Vishak Nair did a remarkable job playing him. Kuppi is pretty much that guy in every school/college. The funny one. The silly one. The one not chasing after a girl. The caring one who just wants to have a blast with his friends. Trust me, no one can hate kuppi. Hats off to Ganesh Raj for creating that character and to Vishak Nair for making him come to life.
Gautham, played by Roshan Matthew is apparently the punk, the cool dude with the band. but that's not who he truly is.I liked this character as well. because we have all gone through that search for identity phase, when you find out who you are and who you are not. It's something we can all relate to.
Devika, played by Annu Antony is Gautham's girlfriend and Dia's and Darshana's friend and that seemed to be pretty much her only role in the movie but I thought she was very cute.
Varun, played by Arun Kurian is the serious type. He's that one guy in every group who is responsible and very serious and should loosen up a bit.
I think you should just watch the film to know about Darshana ;) Akshay, played by Thomas Matthew is that guy who is head over heels for the girl. He is pretty much like Nivin Pauly's character "Vinod" from the 2012 film "Thattathin Marayathu" Now, Dia. I'm sorry to say but she was my least favorite character maybe its because I feel like Siddhi Mahajankatti did not do a very good job of playing her. I felt like she was definitely overacting in some scenes and trying way too hard to be cute but yeah her character is a paavam. But I feel Siddhi should improve on her acting but yeah this is just her first movie she has a long way to go. One thing I don't get was that Dia tells Akshay that she is not interested in having a boyfriend and only wants to be friends but completely leads him on through out the film. I'm sorry, but I feel like if a girl just wants to be friends with a boy she should keep a limit and not send mixed signals and confuse the boy. Now you will only understand what I'm talking about after watching the movie.
Overall, Anandam is just an okay film and its just a one time watch.
Okay Aanandam is a typical movie for the youngsters of this generation, Its pretty much about how you should enjoy your college life and how fun trips can be with your friends and peers.It takes you back to all the school/college/office trips you have been on.
So, this film is somewhat entertaining,funny, scenes are shot well,locations are good and songs are also not bad. Good movie to watch with family and friends but It isn't a breathtaking or ''This movie changed my life'' kind of movie.
Coming to the characters, Kuppi is by far my favorite. Vishak Nair did a remarkable job playing him. Kuppi is pretty much that guy in every school/college. The funny one. The silly one. The one not chasing after a girl. The caring one who just wants to have a blast with his friends. Trust me, no one can hate kuppi. Hats off to Ganesh Raj for creating that character and to Vishak Nair for making him come to life.
Gautham, played by Roshan Matthew is apparently the punk, the cool dude with the band. but that's not who he truly is.I liked this character as well. because we have all gone through that search for identity phase, when you find out who you are and who you are not. It's something we can all relate to.
Devika, played by Annu Antony is Gautham's girlfriend and Dia's and Darshana's friend and that seemed to be pretty much her only role in the movie but I thought she was very cute.
Varun, played by Arun Kurian is the serious type. He's that one guy in every group who is responsible and very serious and should loosen up a bit.
I think you should just watch the film to know about Darshana ;) Akshay, played by Thomas Matthew is that guy who is head over heels for the girl. He is pretty much like Nivin Pauly's character "Vinod" from the 2012 film "Thattathin Marayathu" Now, Dia. I'm sorry to say but she was my least favorite character maybe its because I feel like Siddhi Mahajankatti did not do a very good job of playing her. I felt like she was definitely overacting in some scenes and trying way too hard to be cute but yeah her character is a paavam. But I feel Siddhi should improve on her acting but yeah this is just her first movie she has a long way to go. One thing I don't get was that Dia tells Akshay that she is not interested in having a boyfriend and only wants to be friends but completely leads him on through out the film. I'm sorry, but I feel like if a girl just wants to be friends with a boy she should keep a limit and not send mixed signals and confuse the boy. Now you will only understand what I'm talking about after watching the movie.
Overall, Anandam is just an okay film and its just a one time watch.
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